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My girlfriend's parents have helped her out with so many things lately, and her dad really wants a gaming PC but is holding off due to uncertainty with his job, so I figured it'd be a nice gesture if we bought/built him one so he doesn't have to worry about it - the problem is I had a figure of

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[quote name='xKratosx' timestamp='1362659955' post='595563448']
Many thanks Luc2k - great spot on the motherboard memory modules! The 3 would be for my machine (Dell Vostro 430) and I'd be giving him my 4x2GB modules, so ideally I need a motherboard with 4 slots.

Good shout on the CPU/GPU balance... unfortunately the only thing he's mentioned to me that he definitely would like is an i5 processor
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Any particular reason why he wants the i5? I guess he can always buy a better GPU after, but until then, the performance in games will be A LOT worse. In current form that would be a very bad gaming build and you should tell him.

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[quote name='xKratosx' timestamp='1362659955' post='595563448']
Good shout on the CPU/GPU balance... unfortunately the only thing he's mentioned to me that he definitely would like is an i5 processor
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But why. An i3 would be a better choice. Also you're going to want at least a 7770 (preferably a 7850 or 650 Ti) for gaming.

2) You need to change the ratio between CPU and GPU. Maybe a Phenom II 965 with a 7850. The GPU is more important when it comes to games.
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Actually, they both need to be in decent balance. A powerful GPU wont matter much with a weak cpu. And in the case of what you said, it's a bit off balance. Not to mention instantly very out of date.

[quote name='threetonesun' timestamp='1362660604' post='595563472']
But why. An i3 would be a better choice. Also you're going to want at least a 7770 (preferably a 7850 or 650 Ti) for gaming.
[/quote]

A dual core(which an i3 is) is never a good choice for playing any kind of modern game on.

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[quote name='Blackhearted' timestamp='1362661254' post='595563496']
A dual core(which an i3 is) is never a good choice for playing any kind of modern game on.
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Find out which games today require a quad-core CPU, and then get back to us with that list.

Mind you, the high end i3s can do hyper-threading as well. And recent gaming tests have shown them running circles around quad and hexa core AMD CPUs. Not to mention, we're talking about a PC built around a 7750 at the moment, so please consider how that will have an effect on the total FPS when comparing CPUs.

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[quote name='xKratosx' timestamp='1362661392' post='595563504']
What is better, the AMD Phenom or the i3? Like I said it'll be used mostly for gaming, but also some VB etc coding/development stuff
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Which i3? That Phenom is quite old, although not a bad processor, but for the most part they're still on the market because overclockers like them as a cheap option.

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[quote name='Blackhearted' timestamp='1362661254' post='595563496']
Actually, they both need to be in decent balance. A powerful GPU wont matter much with a weak cpu. And in the case of what you said, it's a bit off balance. Not to mention instantly very out of date.
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I go by 2/3 CPU/GPU mostly. Unless we are talking about a CPU bottleneck (which shouldn't be the case with the Phenom), money spent on the GPU is more rewarding when it comes to gaming. It's true that it is out of date-ish, but this is the sacrifice one faces on a budget.

[quote name='xKratosx' timestamp='1362661392' post='595563504']
What is better, the AMD Phenom or the i3? Like I said it'll be used mostly for gaming, but also some VB etc coding/development stuff.
[/quote]

The i3 should be faster in games that only use 1-2 cores (like Skyrim @stock), but I consider the loss of the other 2 too much for general usage and games that use everything. It's also more expensive and can't be overclocked. It does use substantially less power than the Phenom though. Your call.

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[quote name='Jdawg683' timestamp='1362666259' post='595563694']
Another case of trying to build a budget gaming machine. I would highly suggest you find a bigger budget; otherwise, i think you'll be very disappointed.
[/quote]
Yeah I have to agree more or less.
Also I am really not sure how people are saying the CPU itself is not very important for gaming??? That is just not true.
[img]http://media.bestofmicro.com/O/M/375430/original/Crysis3-CPU.png[/img]

So yeah, better to save up some and do it right, or do it this way, and then have to spend money in the very near future because this way is only going to get you so far before games are hardly running.

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[quote name='Jdawg683' timestamp='1362666259' post='595563694']
Another case of trying to build a budget gaming machine. I would highly suggest you find a bigger budget; otherwise, i think you'll be very disappointed.
[/quote]
Whats wrong with gaming on a budget, not everyone needs to max games out at native resolution with all the AA turned up.

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[quote name='threetonesun' timestamp='1362664757' post='595563636']
Find out which games today require a quad-core CPU, and then get back to us with that list.

Mind you, the high end i3s can do hyper-threading as well. And recent gaming tests have shown them running circles around quad and hexa core AMD CPUs.
[/quote]

It's not really hard to find benchmarks on some other tech sites that show a dual core lags behind a quad core in many modern titles. What DL posted above is one example, a drop somewhere between 15-20%(i5 vs i3) on the average framerate and an even bigger drop on the minimum. That site neowin frequently promotes on the frontpage, techspot, also has many game benchmarks that show similar drops in performance in many games from dropping to a dual core.

Also, despite how windows sees an i3, hyperthreading does not make an i3 into, or comparable to, a proper quad core.

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[quote name='DirtyLarry' timestamp='1362666607' post='595563710']
So yeah, better to save up some and do it right, or do it this way, and then have to spend money in the very near future because this way is only going to get you so far before games are hardly running.
[/quote]

So an i3 with a 680 GTX can play Crysis 3 on high above an average of 30 FPS?

Does no one in this thread understand the concept of a mid-range gaming PC? An i3 with a 7850 will be perfectly fine for most games. It will be [i]exceptional [/i]for Skyrim.

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[quote name='Blackhearted' timestamp='1362668295' post='595563774']
It's not really hard to find benchmarks on some other tech sites that show a dual core lags behind a quad core in many modern titles. What DL posted above is one example, a drop somewhere between 15-20%(i5 vs i3) on the average framerate and an even bigger drop on the minimum. That site neowin frequently promotes on the frontpage, techspot, also has many game benchmarks that show similar drops in performance in many games from dropping to a dual core.

Also, despite how windows sees an i3, hyperthreading does not make an i3 into, or comparable to, a proper quad core.
[/quote]

The guy wants to play Skyrim, I really doubt he's going to be firing up his benchmarking tools to check what the difference in FPS between his new gaming PC and his non-existent octa-core PC is.

As long as it will play current games above an average of 30 FPS at your resolution, what different does it make to the end user?

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[quote name='xKratosx' timestamp='1362668454' post='595563782']
I totally see that the more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it, but the machine I'm building for him is better than my own machine for gaming (first gen i7, soon to have 12GB RAM, ATI 6750) which also cost around

I play Skyrim almost at max settings in my laptop at 1080p, it looks great and it's also easier on the processors because it's a DX9 title, see my specs on my signature, I really recomend to go AMD APU route for a very cheap but good gaming machine (I even play Crysis 3 on medium settings, but that's due my dedicated 6750m) with the APU you can even later add a dedicated graphics card if you wish.